Limited access to transportation is well established as a barrier to people obtaining health care services. If it's hard to get to the doctor, you're less likely to go and that means delays getting needed care, poorer management of chronic conditions, and more use of the emergency room.
While health insurance typically covers emergency transportation, say for an ambulance, coverage of non-emergency transportation to get you to a doctor's visit is less common. Medicaid, which serves people with low incomes, has covered this type of transportation for decades, but it's become increasingly clear that plenty of people with incomes above the Medicaid eligibility threshold face significant transportation barriers.
Thus, some insurers and health systems have begun to offer a non-emergency transportation benefit as well.
